Deals
by gunner brat
Summary: It was the first time in a long time that they spoke civilly and not that long ago that they were dealing blows to each other.


Challenge info:QLFC

Team:Arrows

Position:Seeker

Round:7

Prompt:King of hearts Lucius/Arthur

Warning:This is a bit of an altered event.

They weren't _always_ enemies, though Arthur supposed they weren't ever _friends_ , either. Lucius wanted to be somebody—no matter what the cost—and Arthur was just happy to find Molly. They never did see eye-to-eye when it came to most things. As a Weasley, and Lucius a Malfoy, they were supposed to hate each other. Yet…he could remember a time when they were nearly _civil_ with one another.

Arthur took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Molly was at home, and she was expecting him to be home soon. He was fiddling around with a small, Muggle alarm clock, when Lucius unexpectedly entered his office with a smirk on his face. Arthur tensed and reached for his wand.

He didn't always hate Lucius, but that changed when Lucius came after Molly. Taking in the aristocratic pale blond's appearance he pasted a polite smile on his face. Old rivalries died hard and he knew that this one would continue for the next few generations if things didn't change. Lucius looked around the office, which was full of various Muggle trinkets, and sneered at each one as if they were an affront to his sensibilities. Arthur cleared his throat and opened his mouth, only for no words to come out.

"We need to talk." Lucius said, sitting down in the uncomfortable chairs that were in front of Arthur's desk.

Arthur glared at the other man. He always seemed in control, and the only time that Lucius ever talked to him, it was to mock him—and the fight in the bookstore that Hagrid had broken up. Shoulders tense, Arthur tried to relax as he took another deep breath.

It wasn't time to bring up bad blood now, not when Lucius seemed charming and was speaking civilly to him. It reminded him of the one time that they had engaged in a civil conversation. Though that time, Lucius had wanted him to do something, and offered a bribe, which he flatly turned down before asking what the favor was. Suspicious and wary, Arthur spoke, his tone polite.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked.

"I've heard that you suspect something to be wrong with your daughter, and you have been looking into what could be wrong," Lucius purred softly.

Arthur tensed again and felt a sudden urge to get up and demand what Lucius was talking about. He clearly knew something that Arthur didn't. "What did you do?" he demanded to know, keeping his arms under the desk to hide his fists.

"Nothing you could prove even if you tried. I am simply here to talk—unless you change that by doing something for me," Lucius stared and sneered at Arthur, daring him to react.

"Why should I trust you?" Arthur muttered. He stared at Lucius remembering a less confident boy that only wanted to meet his fathers' expectations of him.

"You shouldn't. In the battlefield, I'm sure we'd be on opposite sides, but this isn't the battlefield and we aren't fighting in a war. Yet." Lucius grinned.

"Lucius—get to the point. We aren't friends—not anymore. I don't think we ever really were, but we could talk to each other without wanting to kill each other." Arthur said.

"I've always hated, and _liked_ that about you. You're honest and straight to the point; an open book with a big heart, which honestly is why you are so low in the social hierarchy." Lucius smirked.

"Lucius…" Arthur tried to calm down as a storm of emotions surged and made war within himself.

"We aren't friends anymore but despite our past encounter—I want your help. You need to know what I will tell you and while I have the resources to do it—having you support me would make it easier to convince the school governors about the dangerous creature that seems to be causing trouble." Lucius grinned.

"I'm not even on the radar of most of them. Why do you want my help when you can do it so easily your own way?" Arthur asked.

"You have five children there and if they get hurt it's on your head. Whatever the creature is—it is targeting Muggleborn children and Halfbloods—but Blood Traitors would be next." Lucius stared at Arthur as the red-haired man looked away.

"What kind of information do you have?" Arthur asked slowly.

"You won't know until you do as I ask. I promise you, Arthur, that it would be true. I won't give an oath over it but I can tell you that you need to know it." Lucius smirked.

"Exactly what do you want me to do?" Arthur asked as he tilted his head to the side.

"I want your support in getting the school closed until it is safe. I don't think my son or his friends will get hurt, but I want be certain that my son is safe." Lucius told him.

"Who will head the investigation?" Arthur asked.

"I have no idea. Are you going to help or not? I won't ask again. I will make sure they catch the culprit and whoever they are—their family will suffer for what they did." Lucius said, suddenly seeming much more human.

"The culprit might not know what they are doing and isn't making sure the family pays as well going… be going a bit too far?" Arthur asked.

"Whoever they are, they are causing harm to the students. Don't you agree that whoever the culprit's family is that they bear the burden of what their family did?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, but surely you wouldn't blame the family if the culprit is innocent." Arthur argued.

"I wouldn't blame them at all. I simply wish that the students would get some sort payment for suffering." Lucius grinned.

"Alright. I can agree to that. I'll do it." Arthur nodded and as he finally got to go home he wondered if he had just made a deal with a devil—and why Lucius was so happy.


End file.
